A Brief Review of the Book "As Vast as Boundless Words"

Compiled by: Fereydoun Heydari Molkmian
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2021-11-2

The book entitled "As Vast as Boundless Words" is one of the works of oral history that was interviewed and compiled by Jila Moradi. The first edition of the book was published in 2019 by the Foundation for the Preservation and the Publication of the Sacred Defense's Values in 456 pages and 500 copies and has been entered the bookstores at 500,000 Rials (Iranian currency).

This book is printed in octavo format and with relatively appropriate paper and a desirable appearance and a beautiful cover design. The structure of the book is in the form of questions and answers and the form of interviews. The last 45 pages of the book are dedicated to appendices, first including images (black and white with relatively good quality) and then documents and announcements. The book consists of different sections (31 sections) which, of course, are numbered and marked only by title.

In the first part, General Rahim Gharajahdaghi introduces himself; that he was born in 1958 in Ajabshir city and a religious environment and moved to Urmia city with his family when he was four years old. His father is a regular member of religious organizations. From childhood, he found himself in the mosques and the speeches, in religious gatherings and prayers, influenced by his father and brother, as well as by those who set up Qur'an classes and lectures in mosques.

In the next section, the narrator begins to move in the direction of the revolution, which officially turns to political and revolutionary activities in 1977. Now he used to be active in mosques all the time and participate in demonstration.

The other part of the book deals with the fact that Rahim Gharajahdaghi entered the path of defense forever with the victory of the revolution, and this was the beginning of a long and final path until he retired. He first joined the Revolutionary Committee and then the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps). At the beginning of his entry into the Urmia Corps, after training, he became one of the combat forces, took part in several conflicts, and fought against the counter-revolution in the region.

Mostly, it was the first struggle taken place by the Muslim People's Republic Party. After only about twenty days, Gharajahdaghi joined the IRGC, and the issue of the Muslim people in Tabriz and Urmia was rising. Although it is more severe in Tabriz, in Urmia, a group of them are arrested and disarmed.

The other sections of the book, to the end of the book, describe in detail the successive missions and the constant presence of Gharahjahdaghi on the various fronts and operations that formed the basis of his activities; He tried to be present wherever needed and liked to reach out quickly wherever he could help others and solve the problem. The General, the narrator, always tried to carry out his mission from the beginning to the end with a strong morality and a sense of responsibility such as neutralizing the mine and building roads in West Azerbaijan province to defending the homeland on the southern front and participating in the operations of Fath-al-Mobin, Dawn 1, presence in Beit-ol-Moqaddas Brigade, commanding of the Jandallah Battalion in Urmia, presence in Bajar plain and rescue of Sardasht, dispatch to Naqadeh and Piranshahr, encountered with PJAK[i] and also the arrival of Iraqi refugees in Iran, Hajj trip and attending higher education courses and attending in the Reshadat Battalion, etc.

In the final sections, the issue of his retirement is briefly mentioned; when, at the end of 2006, he submitted his retirement application several times in writing and orally. His main reason, in addition to his age, was that he wanted young people to come and take over the job.

On the other hand, because Gharajahdaghi often was in mountains, plains, and plains, he was very active, but since he often had to travel long distances by car instead of on foot, and deal with diabetes and high blood pressure and caused him to have less activity gradually. Now the counter-revolution was no longer present in the region and little movement was needed to protect the forces, equipment, and facilities. So he thought to himself that he got diabetes maybe because of his sedentary lifestyle. He even went to the doctor several times, but he was given a series of drugs that he was hesitant to take because some of these drugs had already caused anemia and he practically stopped doing heavier activities.

He insisted on his application for retirement, which he eventually was accepted. Nevertheless, as expected, because of the experience he had gained over the years, he continued to go to the IRGC even after retirement, and from time to time attended opinion polls with veterans In 2007, he registered to visit Karbala. He said to himself that as we have said "Hussein, Hussein (PBUH)" for a lifetime, must finally achieve the happiness of his pilgrimage. He decided to go to Karbala.

You used to think about what to do after retirement. in Karbala, he happened to find the answer to this question: that is, he would be the servant of the Imam Hussein's pilgrims with all his being. Thus, after returning from the pilgrimage, he visited the relevant centers and after the customary and educational stages, he joined the servants of the Imam's pilgrims.

In conclusion, however, the point that seems necessary to make about "As Vast as Boundless Words" is that there seems to have been a little haste in compiling and producing the text. This can be seen almost from the very first pages of the book. While it deserved to have a well-edited book; it is as if the interview questions and answers came directly on the paper in the same original form, and this has sometimes made it difficult to understand the material.

In conclusion, the point that seems necessary to make about "As Vast as Boundless Words" is that there seems to have been a little haste in compiling and producing the text. This can be seen almost from the first pages of the book. While it deserved to have a well-edited book; It is as if the interview questions and answers came directly on the paper in the same original form, and this has sometimes made it difficult to understand the content. Although the book is divided into separate sections; But some sections follow a few lines apart, and others start from the next page.